Winter Sports - Football
“ Paul Bradshaw
The recent warm weather had stimulated a fair bit of growth, with Paul taking off six boxes of clippings on the lengthways cut and two on the widthway cut
Turf Moor set up and ready for the team warm-ups
was accompanied by a friend of mine, Dave Whiteman, a mad keen Burnley fan and professional photographer. We arrived at the ground at 9.00am to be met by Paul. We were given our match day passes and a car park ticket. The aim of the day was to follow the groundsmen and record all the activities and match day routines. Paul and his assistant, Chris Pickles, had
already been at the ground for an hour and a half and were busy completing the first cut of the pitch, mowing lengthways using their two Dennis mowers. Height of cut was set at 25mm. The recent warm weather had stimulated a
fair bit of growth, with Paul taking off six boxes of clippings on the lengthways cut and two on the widthway cut. In the week leading up to the match, Paul cut the pitch with the Dennis mower on the Monday, followed by an application of a liquid/biostimulant feed, and then cut again on Thursday. The first lengthways cut was completed at 9.45am, which was then followed by the second cut of the day widthways. By this time, Barry, Aiden and Daniel had arrived to start marking out, cutting around the goalposts and getting the main goals and
portable goals set up for the pre-match warm-ups. The main goals were checked for alignment and set up for the goal line cameras.
String lines were used to help keep both mowing and marking lines straight. Barry was using a spray jet line marker which gave him a very bright line in one operation. Paul was keen to get the pitch completed by 12.30pm, allowing him plenty of time for any unforeseen jobs. By this time, the stadium was getting busy,
with stewards having their debriefing and tour parties being shown around the ground by past players. We managed to catch up with and speak to one of the clubs celebrated former players, Andy Lochhead, who played for Burnley from 1960-1969 scoring 128 goals in 261 appearances. I asked him if he would have liked to have played on today’s excellent pitches? He shrugged his shoulders and said; “yes, most of the time we played in six inches of mud”. With the pitch preparation now
completed, it was time for some well earned lunch and, following the groundstaff’s match day tradition, we all trooped over to the local fish and chip shop to sample their delights, with me buying a steak and kidney pie, chips
Paul with one of the new G860s 46 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2015
The Burnley Boys l-r: Aiden McGough, Daniel Joyce, Chris Pickles, Paul Bradshaw, Barry O’Brien
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